I love everything about it except the time from 4:30-5:50pm. So help me. Grades 6, 4, 1. This is our second year and I keep waiting for my bubble to be burst. I love the principals, teachers, guidance counselors and office staff, curriculum, specials (gym, art, music), recess. Basically everything. It's like a huge load has been lifted off my brain. I can just be mom and it feels so good. I'm no longer responsible for making sure they're up to educational standards, have enough time with friends, get enough exercise, keep them from fighting. Whenever I see my homeschool friends now, I silently wonder why they put themselves through it. 😳

I'm glad it went well! You can lower your standards too. Pbj &a fruit makes a decent lunch. Or leftover spaghetti in a thermos. Takes less than 30 minutes. Matching clothes? Nah. My k-er went with his shirt backwards a lot last year. I figured if anything it would make the teacher chuckle.

I never cry and wa shocked that I almost did at totality. Was not expecting it. I was not excited to go and dh pretty much dragged me 9 hours to see it. I'm an eclipse concert. 100% totality is way cooler than even 98%.

"Friend, I'm sorry but this is more than we can afford. Here is $100 for your effort."

I don't know how to quote from my phone My reactions aren't too terrible, which is a blessing or a curse. I take way more risks than I should. Living on the edge is not healthy. It just gets so old being the gf person. I hate that eating out as a family and going on vacations is 10 times harder because of me.😩 Sadly I seem to react more as time goes on. I really hope they find a cure in the next 14 years. When I was diagnosed, I told myself not to freak out because surely there will be a cure in 20 years (this was 6 years ago) and I can enjoy my 50s without food restrictions. It's not looking good though!

OP, I could've written nearly your entire post . The only difference is that I was diagnosed six years ago, and I would never use a non-gluten free toaster. I definitely live on the edge though. I've eaten so called gluten-free Thai food from hole in the wall restaurants, and take small risks from time to time. I've never eaten obvious sources and gluten though. I thought certainly that I'd have crazy high antibody levels, but when I had them tested a few months ago, my TTG was only a 9. Down from 120 at diagnosis.

Almond milk, cocoa powder, protein powder, peanut butter, stevia, ice. I usually sub some of the milk with cold coffee.

School is so so so so so so different than homeschooling. It's like apples to oranges. I volunteered in my sons k class last year and noticed all the cute little things they did that filled up time. Not intentional time wasters, but they took time nonetheless. When they'd go somewhere in the hall, they would sing whisper a cute little song about being quiet in the hallway before they went. Stuff like that. Yes, school is not the most efficient use of time, but they're not just sitting around all day. The kids were kept plenty busy doing age-appropriate activities that I just didn't have the energy or drive or desire to do. Like glitter. Or hopping around like frogs after reading a frog book.

Mini goals with a reward after each. Buy a cool necklace or treat yourself to a movie when you've lost the first 10. Stuff like that.

"...our pets heads are falling off." From Dumb & Dumber. It comes out after complaints become excessive. I use it to make fun of myself too. I've also been known to say, "eat your food, Tina." From Napoleon Dynamite. Both go over their heads.

The word "yummy." Shuffling of feet. Pick them up already!! Kids repeatedly tapping the table or kicking their chairs during meals. Humming People playing their music loudly in public places.

They need to finish undergrad first. Honestly I'm more concerned about the timing of their first baby than the age of marriage.

Not helpful for this year, but did you know there are a few camps in the Midwest that have "celiac week"? EVERYTHING is gf at that time. I'm not sure how they handle cc though.

I didn't know whether I'd cry or be singing from the rooftops. I definitely didn't cry. My days flew by! Honestly, from my experience, I'd send them all. Having one home and the others not was a bit of a drag.

I sent 3 last year and they loved it. I did zero prep and all was well. They figured it all out. I even had a kid who didn't like using pencils and look who can write pages in pencil now! The teachers were all wonderful and everyone loved school. Seriously, I keep waiting for my bubble to be burst, but this school rocks my world. I'm so incredibly glad we went the public school route. ZERO regrets. Such a relief for me. The only prep I wish had done was some simple social stuff for my socially clueless kid. He kept unintentally flaunting his smarts and the other kids didn't appreciate that. I wish I had taught him how to either keep his mouth shut or correct other people more respectfully.

Level 4 was 6 hours but at least half the boys added another day to make it 9. 3hr practices. Level 5 is 9-10 hrs.

Just figured it out. The routines are original and practice times will be less. Crossing my fingers this comes to my city! I really do not want the commitment of a level 5 and would much prefer this.

How is this different from the division 2 program that came out last year? One of my boys was a level 4 and competed without the bonuses. I wonder if this will replace that. I am all about this!

My situation was the same. I put her in school the year all the kids come together from different elemrnaries (5th) and it's been great. At some point the stress of having to be EVERYTHING to my daughter was making me miserable. I had to be teacher, mom, chauffeur, etc., all the while trying to be available for her to talk to (she's a talkative little thing) and take care of her siblings. I'm only one person and it's totally unnatural for a human to have to be so much to one person. This was after getting involved in tons of extra curricular and burning myself out further. School may not be the answer for you, but we tried it and have both been very happy with it.

I think I threw away my cutting boards and toaster and that was it. Maybe mesh colanders. During the first few months, expect that you will have mishaps. I still occasionally do some airhead things, like grab the wrong broth and I've been gf for 6 years. So because of this, there's really no need to replace most kitchen things. As the gluten washes out of the pots and pans, you'll be working on tweaking the diet. Fwiw, we do not have a gluten free home. We share condiments (no double-dipping) and I buy wheat bread for dh and the non-celiac kids. My daughter and husband occasionally make pies and other gluten-filled desserts. I just had another blood test and my numbers are excellent. So keep that in mind.

You've got it right. I meant endoscopy. Good catch.

Celiac here. Did not need endoscopy test. Positive ttg with high numbers was enough. I was nearly asymptomatic at diagnosis. Despite the high numbers I'm not super sensitive. I'm not going to add a ton of info, because the posters above have pretty much handled it. Find Me Gluten Free is a website/app that is helpful for locating restaurants. King Arthur chocolate cake and Funfetti gf mixes are the bomb. I find funfetti at target. I mail order most gf stuff from vitacost and get everything else from Aldi and Costco. When in a bind and can't figure out what to make for dinner, follow this: meat, veggie side, potatoes/rice. Easy peasy and balanced.

Dh is not white (he's biracial with a seldom-seen combination) and he detests that question. He knows he looks different. He feels different. And when people ask this, it feels like they're saying "you're different." It gets old.

DH is a primary care doctor and that is pretty flexible since it's in such high demand. There are women who work 2 days per week. Obviously this isn't the greatest choice to go into after having kids (the training is insane), but if the training is in place before kids, I think this would be something feasible. This is what I see as well. I homeschooled until this past school year so most of my contacts are homeschooling moms who don't work outside the home, but of the people I've gotten to know that do work, a mom or MIL has done huge amounts of work to make it happen. We're talking picking up the kids from school, taking them to soccer, walking their dog, feeding kids dinner, etc. These moms have school-age kids and I don't know how they handled it when the kids were tiny.

Sounds fine. It's really good.